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Challenges and Limitations in a Back-End Controlled SmartHome Thesis Work Presentation 06.06.2006 Niklas Salmela Supervisor: Prof. Jorma Virtamo Instructor: M.Sc. Heikki Loukojärvi. Contents. Introduction What is a Smart House? Back-end controlled SmartHome Challenges Conclusions.
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Challenges and Limitations in a Back-End Controlled SmartHome • Thesis Work Presentation • 06.06.2006 • Niklas Salmela • Supervisor: Prof. Jorma Virtamo • Instructor: M.Sc. Heikki Loukojärvi
Contents • Introduction • What is a Smart House? • Back-end controlled SmartHome • Challenges • Conclusions
Introduction • New Internet based services are appearing (VoD, IPTV, VoIP, etc.) • Peoples need for security is rising • Researches show that the interest for “Smart Houses” is increasing • A ”normal” Smart House contain mostly functionalities which address home security and home automation • In a back-end controlled SmartHome there can further be included Internet based services
What is a Smart House? • There is not a single definition of a Smart House • A “smart device” does not make a Smart House • Interaction between smart devices is common in most of the definitions of a Smart House • Common services in Smart Houses: • Home Automation • Home Control • Home Security • Home Surveillance • Usually controlled by external keypads or touch screens, in some cases by a PC in the house
What is a Smart House? (cont.) • The local commands may be transmitted with any appropriate protocol, either wirelessly or by wires • For home automation KNX is the most used standard, another (simple) one is X10 power line communication • For home security RF communication is popular
Back-end controlled SmartHome • A back-end controlled SmartHome is a Smart House that is connected to the Internet • To get full functionality the connection should be an always on, broadband connection • All the functionalities of an ordinary Smart House stay the same • In the basic case no further services are introduced, the added value comes from the remote access
Back-end controlled SmartHome (cont.) • Back-end servers allow remote control and monitoring of the SmartHome • Possible with any Internet capable device (mobile phone, PDA, PC, STB, etc.)
Back-end controlled SmartHome (cont.) • The use of the SmartHome via the back-end is through a portal page, which contains the different services available at the moment • The look & feel should be the same regardless of the device used to access • Restricted version for mobile phones without browsers
Challenges • Some devices in the home might generate high amounts of network traffic, e.g. a network camera • The current situation with broadband speeds do not allow for this • Until the connection speeds change, we have to change the behavior of the cameras • By changing the compression level • By limiting the frames per second
Challenges (cont.) • Making the SmartHome back-end controlled => SmartHome must be accessible from the Internet • The gateway performs a port mapping, e.g. • The requests to the gateways WAN IP on port 1234 will be forwarded to the security • The requests to the gateways WAN IP on port 4321 will be forwarded to the surveillance Home Security Gateway (NAT) Internet Camera Public IP Addresses Private IP Addresses
Challenges (cont.) • Port mapping creates security issues as we cannot know who accesses the equipment. Especially critical in security and surveillance services • The equipment has password protection in itself, but is this enough? • Weak/default passwords a real hazard • The access must be restricted • Requires not yet common features from the gateway • Source IP filtering in the port mapping => devices behind the NAT only accessible from a single (or a set of) IP address(es) • The use of VPN in the connection between the back-end and the home. Secure, but requires much from the Back-end and from the home gateway (e.g. VPN and VLAN)
Conclusions • The services can already be implemented • The bandwidth will not be a problem much longer, speeds are constantly increasing • Biggest problems are in making the connections secure • Between the home and back-end • Between the user and back-end • No single solution is yet decided • Much depends on the future of home gateways
Questions? • Thank you!